Family Movie Night Al Fresco {3M Mobile Projector Review & Giveaway}

Those are the things we were saying at the end of the night last night. We had just finished enjoying an entirely new experience. We watched a movie on a huge screen in our own backyard.

It was so much fun! We lounged in Adirondack chairs (made by Tim), snacked on Kettle Corn (made by me) and enjoyed peanut M&M’s (clearly sent from above). All the while we enjoyed a wonderful springtime seabreeze and had an incredible view of the starry night sky.

Oh, and the movie was great too! We watched Seven Days in Utopia on NetFlix. It’s a great movie and had nothing at all to offend the family nature of the night.

All Made Possible by the 3M™ Mobile Projector

This tiny projector, about the size of a walkie-talkie, has a (removable) rechargeable battery and plugs into your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch.

If we didn’t insist on a louder external speaker (plugged in through a headphone jack on the projector), we could have run the whole thing completely “unplugged” because the projector has its own built-in speaker.

The Screen and Picture

We hung a huge white sheet up under the market umbrella that lives permanently on our back deck. A few strategically placed metal clips and bungee cords and the “screen” was really pretty great. We didn’t notice the few wrinkles at all and the little bit of motion from blowing in the wind actually added to the ambiance!

We set the projector, the iPad and the speaker on a barstool about 9″ from the screen. The result was a HUGE picture almost 6′ wide. Larger than an 80″ TV.

The picture clarity was surprisingly great, especially after it got really dark out. I guess you can’t call it HD on a sheet blowing in the wind, but even the text in the credits was clear and legible.

You know what was really cool? The beam of light shining from the projector. Little dust particles and bugs would get lit-up flying through it and it made the whole thing so “vintage” movie-like. Reminded me of the projectors we had in elementary school.

Other Uses and Ideas

You can buy an optional cord for this projector that allows you to project anything from your computer screen. That pretty much opens up a whole world of options. But we didn’t have that cord.

Without it, the projector only works for your Apple device. iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. And it doesn’t simply reflect what’s on your iPad screen. It displays the following (that I know of):

Photo slide shows from your photo gallery

Videos from YouTube

Videos from the NetFlix app including TV shows and movies

Movies in iTunes

But believe me, that’s enough to make it one great little gadget. Here are a few ideas we’ve had:

Use it at craft shows or trade shows to display images of your work in a slideshow

Set it up in your creative space with a slideshow of inspiring photos

Bring it to the beach and have a movie night on the beach! Hang a sheet on your car for a screen.

Take it camping and watch videos in your tent!

The possibilities are endless.

The speaker isn’t very loud and you can’t project a picture very far (or large) in bright surroundings. The more space between the projector and the screen surface (which can be anything white-ish) the darker it has to be in the room/outside.

The sound issue is easily solved through the headphone jack connected to external speakers or headphones. (get a headphone y-splitter and two people can use headphones together). The brightness/dark-room issue is pretty just much the way it is with projectors.

Overall, for a package so small and so simple, I’m pretty impressed.

And boy did we have fun. We’ll be doing that again very soon!

Win a $150 Target Gift Card

You can win a $150 Target Gift Card. Leave a comment below telling me how you do family movie nights.

Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post.b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post.c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post.d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

Comments

We are cramped for space, and so must do a movie indoors. Popcorn for the big folks, a chip or two for the littlest and a snuggle on the couch. We recently introduced our two boys to E.T. and they loved it!

Outdoor movies would be SO much fun, but we’ve never had the right equipment to make it happen. We usually spread out a blanket on the floor and order pizza and make popcorn and let the kids eat in the living room on the floor, what a treat!

Mama and I love to watch old classics. A little buttery popcorn and the DVD player allows us to enjoy a different movie every tursday night. If we had this neat little projector we could invite the kids, grand kids and the “greaty” ones to a backyard lolipuloosa!! Who says you’re too old!! Be a great way to remember and share memories of going to the drive-in with family no longer here.

I would sooooo love to do outdoor movies! We have a long garage right next to our patio that would work perfectly…actually watching a HUGE Yankee game would be fun too! Movie nights at our house are done inside – pizza, soda (a very rare treat for the kids) & we each take turns picking the movie for the week – I spare the 2 guys anything too sappy but my picks usually are the more ‘nerdy’ ones lol. Thanks for the giveaway!
Smiles, DianeM

We LOVE to do family movie nights. In fact, we did so last night. Not as cool as if we had done one outside, though. We watched The Adventures of Tin-Tin. Kids had chocolate milk, and we let them eat on the sofa. (something, we don’t usually let them do.)

Family Movie Nites – we rotate who gets to choose. Then we have make your own ice cream sundaes and popcorn with M&Ms tossed in (for that sweet/salty taste). Would love to try the outdoor movie with family and friends.

This is great! We’ve done the “backyard drivein” with a power point projector borrowed from Hubby’s employer, but we have to plan way ahead and never know if work will trump our reservation on it. We built a screen out of pvc and leftover tyvek house wrap – it is very durable and nicely reflective, so we get a nice bright picture. We even found the old “drive in” animations to do intermission – we run the whole thing off the laptop.

We go to a campgrounds every year that has a big screen and projector. Movie night outdoors is the best and we always have ice cream. I love the idea of having your own projector and hanging a sheet from the car to watch movies. That would be a blast!

What a fabulous sweepstakes! We had outdoor movie night for the kids in our neighborhood last year and they are all asking about it again for this summer…..what a fabulous addition a projector would be! Fingers crossed!!

We have actually used another device for outdoor movie nights, it was borrowed and I thrilled to see an affordable option like this! What a great party this would be.
Our family movie nights consist of snuggling on the sofa with the latest release, still a great time to be together:>)

Our movie nights are boring compared to what they could be with this device. I love the idea of craft shows and displaying your own work. The ideas are endless! My kids would not need snacks if we watched movies outside & they could run around.

we have the tiniest backyard so an outdoor bit isn’t possible but we have a “sleep over” type where we bring all of our blankets & pillows & lie on the floor as we watch the latest kid movie that’s come out.

We do Netflix night. Let the kiddos camp in the living room or all pile in our bed and watch a movie. If its cool enough we pile them outside the bounce house and let them watch on the iPad. How cool it would be to projr t it on the house.

We don’t own a TV, but we got a large monitor for our desktop computer. Most of our family movie nights involve Netflix or a Redbox DVD. Occasionally, though, we cuddle up in our king sized bed and watch something on a laptop. Great fun, either way!

Movie night occurs at least once a week at my house, but I have been dying to host a ‘drive-in’ movie night in our backyard. There is only one problem…we have no way to project the movie. Kind of a key component! this would be perfect and the size would make it so easy to store when the night is over. I need this 3M projector!

I love family movie night. My son and daughter takes turn picking a movie to watch (limited to 1 per night though). I’m always the one who prepare the snacks and drinks for our fun night cuddling on the couch.

We usually pick something up at the video store for movie night and pile up in the basement to watch it. But! “Have an outdoor movie night” is on my summer bucket list! So I definitely need one of these little guys!

I would love to use this for my son’s 16th birthday. We’re taking him and 8 friends to our cabin in the woods. Imagine putting up a large sheet, lots of lounge chairs, homemade popcorn and snacks, a nearby bonfire. Could be a fantastic way to watch a fun movie!

We do friday night pizza, game, and/or movie night each week. We start with a picnic of pizza and then put our pjs on to watch a movie while snuggling under covers. I would love to do an outside movie in the summer, but the traffic by our house is too loud.

We have a 2 year old, so not many family movie nights lately. But I’m with you! When our little one gets older, I can’t wait to show movies outside on the side of the garage. Totally reminds me of the Drive-Ins of my childhood

Choosing a movie everyone loves and turning the lights off and snuggling on the sofa under a big fluffy blanket!. I also like to make my movie snack mix (popcorn & M&M’s mixed together) Thanks so much!
ashleygatewood1(AT)gmail.com

Movie night would not be the same without lots and lots of snacks! Sometimes we do chocolate covered peanuts with fresh popped popcorn (not that nasty microwave stuff) and its like I am a kid again in the backseat of my parents’ car at the drive in. I love it!

We have a big screen TV (not huge though) in the basement and every Friday night we do family movie night. We order from Netflix, pop pocorn, the kids get to choose either a soda or some candy and we watch as a family.

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